Monday, January 28, 2008

Another Sketchy Monday

"Eye Spy" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne
Colourful, aint' it?



Welcome back dear reader to the last week of January! Wow, where did the month go??

So today I wanted to do kind of a warm-up to Van Gogh before "officially" starting on Wednesday. While he's best known for his paintings it's also worth mentioning that Van Gogh was quite an avid sketcher and there are reams of his drafts, sketches and doodles to attest to that fact.
To be honest I've never been much of a sketcher and I can count on one hand (and still have fingers left over) how many times I've sketched out a larger piece before actually starting it. I guess I'm a spontaneous artist that way and, up until this point in my artistic development, I can't say that it's hurt me in any way... but I'll cover that issue more on Wednesday.

Below I've posted a couple of sketches I did over the week-end. They didn't take me terribly long, 20 minutes tops per subject, but it's a start:

Copyright Rita Woodburne

This page features an old Black & Tan beer bottle/ jug that my parents acquired when they bought their cottage and I thought it was neat looking and figured I'd take a stab at it.
The other sketch is a Sumba pony, a pony that is native to India with an elongated face much like an Arabian. These horses are rarely seen outside India and, as far as I know, there aren't any in North America...yet.

Copyright Rita Woodburne

On the back of the Sumba pony and beer page I did this one, a profile of a Freisan horse. I love these horses, they're huge (usually topping out at 17 hands, if not more) and their manes are gorgeous!

Two other artists blogs that are part of my regular blog reading are those of Jennifer Rose Philip (Fuzzy Dragons) and Ann Nemcosky (Nemcosky Art), both of whom have been participating in the Everyday Matters Challenge. With this challenge they are required to whip out their sketchbook and draw on a daily basis in an effort to improve their drawing skills. To find out more about the challenge and to have a look at what they've been up to in relation to it pop over to their respective blogs and have a gander.


Although I don't dedicate much time to it myself, I really feel that sketching, even if it's only for a brief moment, is an important part of developing one's artistic skills. So with that in mind, and with my Van Gogh project approaching, I suspect I'll be adding another resolution to my list. Can you guess what it'll be?

6 comments:

MYM said...

wow...the watery eye...so amazing!

I'm not a sketcher either...well because I can't "sketch" it takes hours and a lot (a lot) of concentration just to get something fairly recognizable.

I admire people who can sketch well and freely.

Ann said...

Great sketches Rita! And thank you for linking to my bog :)
I have enjoyed working through the Everyday Matters drawing challenges. Drawing from life, as opposed to using photos, is something I most definitely need practice with and the EDM group is just the little kick I need to get motivated. I look forward to seeing what you will be doing with your Van Gogh study.

Beth said...

I came over from drowsey's. Wow, you are really talented!

Jennifer Rose said...

Very nice sketches :) That eye is gorgeous! Should do really well on Ebay. I had never heard of the Sumba pony before, pretty breed. I love Freisans. My dream horse if I ever had the money to care for one and the land for it too (while the backyard is a big one for here, I don't think the horse would like living in the garage but it could chase away the cats! :p)

Thanks for linking to my blog :) I'm hoping sketching improves my skills, if not I would have finally filled a sketchbook.

Rita said...

Thanks Brenda! I'm trying to sketch more because I know that it'll help but sometimes it's hard to break old non-habits! :p

Ann- I need the practice of drawing from life as well, it's just so much different than working from a photo. I'm looking forward to see what happens with my VG project too!

Beth- Thanks for the kudos and for stopping by!

lol Jennifer! Maybe filling a sketchbook should've been added to my New year's resolutions!
I love Freisians too and even though I've got the land I can't even imagine how much food they eat considering how big they are! $$

Ann said...

Hi again Rita,
Please forgive me but I have tagged you. You don't have to participate if you don't want to. Details are on my blog.